The Cool New 'Harry Potter' Covers Disappoint the Nostalgic

In an effort to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the United States publication of Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone—and to partially banish its iconic covers from a new generation of readers—Scholastic has announced that the U.S. trade paperback editions of the series will be getting a makeover from artist Kazu Kibuishi. They've already released the first cover:

According to a press release from Scholastic, Kibuishi said he was initially wary about taking on the task because he didn't want to see Mary GrandPré's "iconic" covers "reinterpreted." When he eventually took to the task of illustrating the covers, though, he said: "I tried to think of classic perennial paperback editions of famous novels and how those illustrations tend to feel. In a way, the project became a tribute to both Harry Potter and the literary classics." He told the Wall Street Journal: "I tried to recall A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson."

The cover scene, if you couldn't immediately tell, depicts Harry and Hagrid walking through Diagon Alley. Kibuishi said: "I chose this scene because it is the reader’s first real step into the world of magic, a prelude to the adventure that is about to begin."

GrandPré's illustrations are not gone forever, though, Scholastic says they will still adorn the U.S. hardcover and digest paperback editions. The trade paperbacks with Kibuishi's illustration will be available in September 2013.